A golf ball covered with a balata cover is still popular because of its superior performance. A golf ball with a balata cover has poor whiteness in comparison with a golf ball covered with an ionomer resin cover, because the balata cover itself has a dark and dull color and even if coated with a white paint, its whiteness is insufficient.
In order to improve the whiteness of a golf ball with a balata cover, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei 4(1992)-500295 suggests to formulate a suitable amount of blue and violet pigments in the white paint. However, when two kinds of coloring pigments are formulated, it is necessary to control the amount of each pigment delicately. When the amount of one pigment becomes larger than that of the other one, the color tone of the resulting golf ball varies greatly, which results in a variability in the final products. Further, since two kinds of pigments are formulated, it takes a lot of time to disperse each pigment during the mixing process. Also, there is the problem that the balata cover becomes discolored due to weathering discoloration of the cover and paint.